Apple Almond Flour Crumble

One of my favorite fall treats is apple crumble. This warm comfort food is very simple to make, and the recipe can be easily modified to fit various dietary restrictions. You can use any animal fat for the apple coating (in place of butter.) Lard would be my next choice. You can also ferment any nut flour to make the crumble. Alternatively, you could leave the crumble off completely and just eat baked apples!

When you are making a sweet treat, even when using fruit and properly prepared grains or nuts, it’s important to use plenty of fat. Sugar is sugar no matter the source, and when a large amount of sugar comes into our body quickly, our blood sugar will naturally spike. This is very stressful and potentially harmful to the body. But when fat is eaten alongside the sugar, the blood sugar spike is greatly reduced, and you can enjoy that food better. This recipe is a perfect example of the balance of sugar and fat. And believe me, you will love how delicious those two sticks of butter are!

This crumble is also wonderful when eaten cold. I found it also rewarmed well. To reheat, I simply placed my baking dish back in the oven and warmed it around 250 degrees for around fifteen minutes. 

Ingredients:

• 4-5 Gala Apples
• 2 Sticks of Butter
• 5 Cardamom Pods
• 5 Whole Cloves
• 5 All Spice Berries
• Whole Nutmeg
• 1 ½ tsp Cinnamon
• ½  tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/16  tsp Ground Cloves
• ¼ tsp Salt

For the Crumble:

• 2 Cups Fermented Almond Flour
• 3 Tbsp Room Temperature Butter
• 3 Tbsp Date Syrup
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• Scant ½ tsp Salt

Directions:

At Least 24 Hours in Advance:

Ferment your Almond Flour using 2 cups of flour and ¼ cup of whey or yogurt.

Leave covered on the counter for at least 24 hours to ferment.

To Prepare the Rest of Your Recipe:

Preheat oven to 375.

Thinly slice your apples. The apples should fully fill your dish and be heaped over the top. They will cook down before you put the crumble on top. After slicing enough apples, place them in a bowl.

Add the stick and a half of butter to a small pot. Add in the cardamom pods, whole cloves, and allspice berries. Grate about ⅛ tsp of fresh nutmeg over the top. Turn to low heat until the butter melts. This will allow the spices to blend for a bit. Once the butter has started melting, add the cinnamon, vanilla, ground cloves, and salt.

A few minutes after the butter has melted, remove from heat and strain it over the apples to remove the whole spices. Carefully toss to coat the apples.

Add the apples to your round baking dish and cover.

Place in the oven for 20 minutes. There will likely be over spill, so be sure to place something below your apples to catch the drippings. 

While the apples are cooking, make the crumble by combining the butter, date syrup, cinnamon, and salt with the fermented almond flour.

Remove the apples from the oven and dollop the crumble on top to evenly distribute it. Then smooth it so it’s roughly the same thickness throughout.

Place the cover back on and put the dish back in the oven for 20 more minutes. Then take the cover off and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Serve warm or cooled, with a dollop of freshly whipped cream on top. I make my whipped cream by taking heavy whipping cream and adding honey to taste. Whip to desired consistency. 

Enjoy!